Battle over plan to remove 1600 trees

Reporter

For the chop … Marrickville councillors vote Tuesday night on a plan to remove almost 1600 unhealthy and risky trees, a move the Greens say prioritises concrete. Photo: Dean Sewell

MARRICKVILLE councillors will vote on Tuesday night on a proposal to remove 1590 trees - and, the Greens warn, potentially many more.

An audit recommended the trees' removal because they are in poor health or pose a risk to the public. The council will vote to decide whether to receive that report, which would be used to formulate a plan for trees.

The council will also consider a new principle for planning: that older trees be removed and replaced with saplings whenever they come into ''conflict'' with a footpath replacement.

The mayor of Marrickville, Victor Macri, an independent, said he supported the report's recommendation.

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''We're not getting rid of 1600 trees; we're renewing 1600 trees,'' Cr Macri said. ''They're in poor condition and making a poor contribution. We are obliged to make the area safe. It's ridiculous for people to say this is going to alter Marrickville in some way. We have 22,000 trees.''

However, the Greens noted that the report found that 1194 of the trees slated for removal were found to be ''very low risk''.

The Greens say council is taking a limited view of the trees' value and could do more to protect them. Other councillors say such measures are simply too costly.

Cr Macri said the change of policy would address the council's $23 million infrastructure backlog.

''[Currently] where there's a conflict with a tree, the tree stays,'' he said. ''They change the old concrete and they put tar where the tree is, which becomes a high maintenance issue: you're going back to pat it down every three months.''

The Greens said that if the ''draconian'' policy was passed it could lead to the removal of up to another 5500 trees that the recent audit found were poking through kerbs and footpaths.

''It's a really backwards attitude to be prioritising concrete,'' a Greens councillor, Max Phillips, said. ''The inner west will be a wasteland of tree stumps, small shrubs and concrete if Mayor Macri gets his way.''

Cr Macri said that renovating footpaths was necessary to make them accessible to older people.

''Taking the tree out is the last resort,'' he said.

Liberal and Labour councillors said they were considering how they would vote.